Blog Post 4: How Globalization Has Affected Telenovelas

 In class, we learned about how the U.S. show Breaking Bad was turned into a Colombian telenovela titled Metastasis. This was very intriguing to me because Breaking Bad is one of my all time favorite television shows. It was interesting how the trailer for Metastasis almost exactly replicated the one for Breaking Bad. The Colombian adaptation of the show takes key elements from the original series and weaves them into a Colombian cultural context. Along with adding elements of Colombian culture to the series, the show was created in the format of a telenovela, airing nightly. The use of the telenovela format fit better with the cultural viewing practices in Colombia than the original format where one episode aired per week. The practice of taking one series and adapting it to fit in another culture is known as localization. Through creating the series within the cultural context of Colombia, Sony was able to use localization as a means of acquiring new audiences in Latin America. Metastasis; however, was not received by Latin American audiences quite as well as Sony expected. According to an article by the Guardian, a Colombian blogger known as Edgar Leonardo Medina wrote it was a "clumsy adaptation of a masterpiece". Because Colombia and many other Latin American countries have access to American television series such as Breaking Bad through SVODs already, many Latin American viewers preferred to watch the original series over the remake. This brings me to the question; is the infiltration of SVODs like Netflix into countries across the globe minimizing the ability of countries with smaller media industries to create content for their local audiences? In what ways is the globalization of media helping or thwarting smaller media industries? 

Article Link:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/07/breaking-bad-colombia-remake-metastasis